The San Francisco 49ers made their necessary roster cuts earlier this afternoon to cut down to the 53-man roster. While the team is at the 53 player limit, that does not mean they are finished making roster moves. Upwards of 800+ players hit the waiver wire following yesterday and today's cuts, meaning scouting departments have limited time to dust off scouting reports and decide if a given player would fit the team's system.
For the 49ers, that means players down around the end of the roster are not necessarily safe from release for now. Few jobs in the NFL are ever completely safe, but that is especially true this weekend every year. The 49ers current 53-man roster would seem to reflect that as the team currently has two quarterbacks and two tight ends. The 49ers could very well stick with those numbers, but I'd be pretty surprised if that was the case.
I've posted the current 53-man roster after the jump. In comparing it to my final projection on Friday, I actually did halfway decent. I had Josh McCown, Konrad Reuland, and Phillip Adams on and I had Will Tukuafu, Keaton Kristick and Colin Jones off. That's a six player swing. Not perfect, but I'd say it's a decent percentage.
The question now is who gets cut and who gets added between now and September 11. Some folks are calling for Scott Tolzien, the Chargers backup who had a strong preseason finale before being waived. While he could be an interesting practice squad option, I would think that if he clears waivers he ends up on the Chargers practice squad. More often than not, it seems the initial practice squad is generally composed of current players. We'll see tomorrow. I'll make sure and get some info posted about waivers tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.
What possible options do you see at quarterback and tight end?
QB (2): Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick
RB (3): Frank Gore, Anthony Dixon, Kendall Hunter
FB (2): Moran Norris, Bruce Miller
TE (2): Vernon Davis, Delanie Walker
WR (5): Braylon Edwards, Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Kyle Williams, Ted Ginn
OT (3): Joe Staley, Anthony Davis, Alex Boone
OG (5): Mike Iupati, Chilo Rachal, Adam Snyder, Daniel Kilgore, Mike Person
C (1): Jonathan Goodwin
NT (2): Isaac Sopoaga, Ian Williams
DE (5): Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Ricky Jean Francois, Demarcus Dobbs, Will Tukuafu
OLB (4): Aldon Smith, Parys Haralson, Ahmad Brooks, Antwan Applewhite
ILB (5): Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, Larry Grant, Blake Costanzo, Keaton Kristick
CB (5): Carlos Rogers, Shawntae Spencer, Tarell Brown, Chris Culliver, Tramaine Brock
S (6): Dashon Goldson, Donte Whitner, Reggie Smith, Madieu Williams, C.J. Spillman, Colin Jones
K (1): David Akers
P (1): Andy Lee
LOS (1): Brian Jennings